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please don't drive. If these errands are essential, have a friend/relative drive you, or take a cab

Sleep apnea, insomnia, no sleep, that's me.

Several years ago I momentarily fell asleep at the wheel and "came back" seconds later to find that I had crossed over into the oncoming lane! Acting on sheer instinct, I was able to pull over onto the shoulder. No doubt leaving several other drivers, as well as myself, a bit "shaken."

Driving has been okay for a long time, no dowsing off at the wheel, but the other day I pushed myself too far and, again, I momentarily dosed off at the wheel. It is completely involuntary!

In all the times this has happened to me, I was there and then, suddenly, I wasn't.

As much as you think that you're okay to drive, based on how you described yourself today, YOU SHOULD NOT DRIVE!

Several years ago I momentarily fell asleep at the wheel and "came back" seconds later to find that I had crossed over into the oncoming lane! Acting on sheer instinct, I was able to pull over onto the shoulder. No doubt leaving several other drivers, as well as myself, a bit "shaken."

Guessing you are right-handed. A left-hander (driving on the right side of the road) tends to have a startle reflex that would pull the car to the left, into oncoming traffic. Most right-handers startle to the right, pulling the car safely onto the shoulder.

From the International Children's Education web site:

"Among the list of negative factors attached to being left-handed is some statistical evidence that left-handers die younger than right-handers. While this is a controversial finding, if there is some truth to it, a possible explanation may have to do with driving accidents. In the U.S. and Canada, from which the data was derived, people drive on the right. A left-hand startle reflex would be more apt to cause the driver to end up pointing against traffic while a right-hand startle reflex would cause the car to drive off the road."

I'm not one of those fall asleep behind the wheel types. It's both a blessing and a curse. If you want someone in the group to drive home for 2 hours starting at 2AM - I'm your man. I have the ability to stay awake when I need to (and too often when I DON'T need to). Instead of heavy eyelids, I just feel pain. AND become stupid (spellchecker is working HARD right now)

I don't fall asleep in movies... at home watching the TV and I certainty don't fall asleep while drive - not even close.

but I WOULD stay at home if I could... unfortunately, me AND MY CAR have things to do that must be done today.

Sherlock Holmes would have figured it out already - car registration is due and I have to get my car smogged - NOW.

Several years ago I momentarily fell asleep at the wheel and "came back" seconds later to find that I had crossed over into the oncoming lane! Acting on sheer instinct, I was able to pull over onto the shoulder. No doubt leaving several other drivers, as well as myself, a bit "shaken."

Guessing you are right-handed. A left-hander (driving on the right side of the road) tends to have a startle reflex that would pull the car to the left, into oncoming traffic. Most right-handers startle to the right, pulling the car safely onto the shoulder.

From the International Children's Education web site:

"Among the list of negative factors attached to being left-handed is some statistical evidence that left-handers die younger than right-handers. While this is a controversial finding, if there is some truth to it, a possible explanation may have to do with driving accidents. In the U.S. and Canada, from which the data was derived, people drive on the right. A left-hand startle reflex would be more apt to cause the driver to end up pointing against traffic while a right-hand startle reflex would cause the car to drive off the road."

I am right-handed, but in this case I pulled over to the shoulder on my left. I already was in the lane that was to my left (the oncoming lane). Had I "startle" pulled to my right, I would have gone back into my original lane, but that wouldn't have been good, since there were other cars there.

Several years ago I almost died "behind the wheel" after falling asleep.

I was driving home from a job late at night and I just could not stay awake. I was fighting like mad but felt like I wasn't going to make it. So even though I was only about 10 miles from home, I decided to stop at a rest stop and take a cat nap.

I pulled into the rest stop, parked and almost immediately fell asleep. Unfortunately, I parked facing away from the building in a diagonal parking spot facing a grove of trees about 50 feet in front of me. Also unfortunately, after about an hour-long epic battle to stay awake I guess I was subconsciously still in *stay awake* mode.

You can probably guess what happened. I jerked awake (thinking I had fallen asleep while driving), opened my eyes and saw the trees directly ahead of me and proceeded to nearly die of a heart attack.

QuoteAllGold
You can probably guess what happened. I jerked awake (thinking I had fallen asleep while driving), opened my eyes and saw the trees directly ahead of me and proceeded to nearly die of a heart attack.